Shana (シャナ,Shana?) is the female lead of the Shakugan no Shana series. She is a Flame Haze, usually referred to by her title "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" (炎髪灼眼の討ち手,Enpatsu Shakugan no Uchite?), or as "Nietono no Shana" (the name of her sword) among the other Flame Haze. She has entered into a contract with the Crimson GodAlastor, "Flame of Heaven".

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Noizi Itō's depiction of Shana in her uniform while envoking her powers

Shana is a young girl with jet black hair which is almost as long as her body. She has an anime antenna hair (アホ毛, ahoge) which always sticks out on the top of her head and characteristics that would make her a Moe character. She also has dark brown irises and a fair complexion. Because of the effects of being a Flame Haze, Shana's physical age will remain that of a girl of that appears to be 9 to 13 years of age.[1][2] Upon invoking her powers as a Flame Haze, her hair and eyes change color to a fiery crimson with embers fluttering from her head down. Shana is of Asian decent.[3] Her actual age is unknown, but it is speculated that she has only been a Flame Haze for a couple of years and had made the contract with Alastor when she was at least 12 years old.[2][4] In the anime, she is 141 cm tall.[1][2]

In her first few years as a Flame Haze, she wears all black attire consisting of a shirt, pants, and her Treasure ToolYogasa in the form of a trench coat. However, after she decided to stay in Misaki City, she is most usually seen with the Misaki City Municipal High School uniform. When in combat, she has the Yogasa as a cape worn over her clothes.

Shana is seen wearing various other clothing throughout the series. Before becoming a Flame Haze, Shana wore a pink cheongsam (Chinese dress). When she went to Misaki Waterland, she wore a pink swimsuit, wearing her hair in pigtails. She is also seen wearing the Misaki Municipal High School swimming uniform on occasions when she is swimming in Physical Education classes, as well as, the white top and red pants that compose of the normal P.E. class uniform. She sometimes wears a green dress and ties her hair in a ponytail at the Sakai Residence when in the company of Chigusa Sakai. She is also seen wearing a denim jacket with pigtails, as well as a pink jumper/sweater on Christmas Eve.

She is later seen wearing a red-and-black formal dress during her stay inside the Seireiden. After freeing herself, she is seen wearing a battle-damaged white dress before Sophie requested that she change her clothes. After the battle at Seireiden, she is seen wearing a maroon-coloured shirt in Hong Kong.

Initially, she is concentrated solely on her duty as a Flame Haze, not even considering getting a name as she didn't see any importance in having it. She sees Yūji only as a Torch, an object, albeit marginally interesting because of his status as a Mystes. However, she slowly opens up to Yūji, coming to think of him as a person despite being a Torch, and eventually comes to show affection to him. Her duty made her indifferent towards human life at first, but through Yūji's influence, Shana has opened up slightly. She still remains confused and disgruntled by some human traits which she considers as pointless, although some of it is used to mask her jealousy about her desired monopoly on Yūji.

Shana is first introduced as a cold character who is somewhat hostile towards Yūji, but she later warms up, satisfying the requirements for a Japanese character type known as a Tsundere (ツンデレ?).

Shana has a habit of saying "Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!" ("Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!") whenever Yūji asks her questions or makes remarks that disturb her original worldview or embarrass her but in reality, they really care for each other. She has a great fondness for anything sweet, although melon bread is her favorite.

Shana is shown to be highly intelligent as she has gotten a perfect score on every exam and is talented in Physical Education. She is shown, however, to be naive when it comes to social affairs, once even unbashfully asking Kazumi and the Sakai's "how babies are made".

Unlike most Flame Haze, she has never borne hatred towards the Crimson Denizens, only concentrating on her duty.

She was rescued and picked up by Wilhelmina Carmel and Shiro near Hong Kong when she was an infant. She was then raised and trained in Tendōkyū. Alastor stated that she is "The Great One", destined to be a very majestic figure when she grows up (if she didn't get involved with the Crimson Realm beforehand).

One day, a trick that ran out of control caused Shiro to unleash a torrent of Power of Existence that momentarily disables the Tendoukyuu's Crypta, allowing several affiliates of Bal Masque to initiate an attack on the flying fortress. The attack eventually forces the young Shana to decide on entering a Flame Haze contract with Alastor, and after becoming the second Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter, Shana defeats the threats that stand in her way and allowed Shiro, who is actually the Crimson Lord Merihim, to gain his peaceful rest after a short duel with him.

After the destruction of the Tendōkyū, she and Wilhelmina went their separate ways in Hong Kong, with the latter's intentions of allowing Shana to learn on her own as a Flame Haze. Wilhelmina's parting gift to Shana was a pack of melon bread, which Shana quickly took a liking to.

The new "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" proceeds to her solitary journey, eventually becoming a companion of Sophie Sawallisch, a veteran Flame Haze, in Eastern Europe. Sophie notices her crudeness in combat and lack of femininity and decides to train her, while teaching her the ways of being a lady. The Flame Haze later travels to Japan, where she is involved with affairs relating to a certain Denizen which dwells in Yosegi City before reaching Misaki City.

She later meets Yūji by chance in one attack initiated by Friagne, the Crimson Lord who was staying at that city. Yūji, in his need to humanize her, chose to name her "Shana" after her katana. Until she met Yūji, she was identified by only her Flame Haze title "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter," or her nodachi as, "Flame Haze of the Nietono no Shana" (Nietono no Shana no Flame Haze) or even abbreviated to "the Nietono" (Nietono no) by her fellow comrade, Rebecca Reed.

Shana first arrives in Misaki City after a long time of traveling alone (prior to arriving in Japan and after leaving the destroyed Tendōkyū, she is accompanied by Sophie Sawallisch) to confront Friagne. At this period, the infamous "(Bounty) Hunter" has defeated a number of Flame Haze, and as a Flame Haze herself, she aims to destroy Friagne as well.

She attacked three of Friagne's Rinne, who had activated a Fuzetsu and were devouring the Power of Existence of the people who were immobilised by the spell. In doing so, she had saved Yūji Sakai, a torch who could move inside the Fuzetsu. She and Alastor were surprised when they discovered that Sakai Yūji could move in the seal. thus making him a Mystes. Shana defeated two of the Rinne but when she was about to slash the last one, Yūji got in the way, allowing the Rinne to shove her hand inside of him to retrieve the Treasure Tool inside of him. She then cut into Yūji, also getting the Rinne. She cut into the Rinne again, but from the cut, Marianne came out, escaping the fight and reporting back to Friagne.

Yūji being cut open

When Yūji was moaning because he was cut open, Shana put him back together. She also repaired the damage that was caused during the fight and undid the seal. She was going to leave but was stopped by Yūji, who was wondering what was going on. She replied that he was dead.

Shana began watching Yūji, as she thought that Friagne would come after him. She saw Yūji again the next day and explained to him the Crimson Realm, Denizens, and the Flame Haze.

Later, Shana realized the Torch she saved earlier, holds the Reiji Maigo, a device which replenishes the holder's Power of Existence every time at midnight. Shana sees him as a viable bait to lure out Friagne, and she decides to use the remaining Power of Existence of Hirai Yukari to keep a close watch at him. She later goes to Yūji's house to live there for the moment.

Meanwhile, Margery Daw is on pursuit of a Torch named Lamies. Margery and Shana clash in one encounter, and the powerful "Interpreter of Condolence" defeats Shana and forces her to return to Yūji's house badly injured. Later, Yūji Sakai found Shana in their backyard after her fight with Margery. Yūji tried to help Shana but she retaliates by saying "I don't want to get help from a torch! Leave me alone!", with that Yūji left and soon after that Kazumi asked Yūji to go with her to the Museum because her father gave her two tickets and she has no one to go with. Yūji agrees and they went out to the Museum.

In there Yūji met Lamies, the corpse retriever. They had a first normal conversation but Yūji figures out he's a denizen after Lamies said that he was a torch. Later, Margery has a run-in with Friagne the Hunter who used the Fuzetsu to find Lamies and leave Eita and Keisaku who she saved from a bunch of gangster and who she used as the city guide, Shana considers Yūji. In the mist of her confusion, Alastor suggests her to destroy Yūji for good.

Later, she, Margery and Yūji together defeat Friagne when he plans to start the ceremony for the City Devourer to make Marianne an individual and independent being.

Shana is ready to fight, but Margery leaves, intent on finding Lamies. When Margery is unable to locate Lamies, she returns to Keisaku's house, and rests. Keisaku and Eita are worried so Marchosias shows them Margery's past, where they see The Silver.

The next day, Yūji and Shana are training. After Margery Daw teaches them about the truth, she gives Keisaku and Eita a bookmark that allows them to communicate with each other and move in a fuzetsu. Then they made their way to the abandoned building where Friagne left the Crystal Altar.

Sorath and Tiriel have come to Misaki City with Sydonay as a bodyguard and are in search of the Nietono no Shana. They activate a Fuzetsu on the city to lure Shana. Their Cradle Garden allows them to use unrestricted spells continuously, forcing Shana to try and attack a plant which she presumes to be the power source. But it is a trap, and Shana is captured by the plant. Her brother takes the Nietono no Shana, cuts off Alastor's pendant and proceeds to kill Shana. Later, Alastor returns to Shana and they use a huge flame attack to regain Nietono no Shana so they can attack Sorath and her. They succeed in attacking her and Sorath but Sorath escapes unharmed because she uses her existence to protect him. They then go to the bridge because Yūji Sakai is near the Cradle Garden. Shana attacks them but Tiriel gives up her life to save Sorath. He attacks with Blutsauger but Shana tricks him by throwing Nietono No Shana into the air. He reaches for it but Shana grabs it and slashes him to death before he can.

She recalls the way she become a Flame Haze and the time when Wilhelmina trains her and be her guardian. When Tendōkyū falls for the first time after all the commotion, Wilhelmina parts ways with her, who later travels around the world to learn more about her duty as the newest "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter".

When Yūji Sakai doesn't come home after school on the day of the festival, she and Yūji's mother go to the location of the festival to look for him but another Crimson Denizen shows itself with a fancy Unrestricted Spell. Kazumi discovers the truth that Yūji is indeed a Torch and Shana gets upset upon seeing the situation between Yūji and Kazumi. The Seeking Researcher, Dantalion has already started his plan to open up a gate to another dimension and she, the other two Flame Haze, a few humans like Satō Keisaku, Eita Tanaka (after hearing Matake Ogata's confession of love) and Kazumi Yoshida, and a torch, Yūji must work together to defeat him.

After the events that took place in the festival, Shana harbors doubt for Yūji's desire to leave the city with her. She reunites with Wilhelmina Carmel, whom she starts living with at an apartment. Wilhelmina soon begins to notice a change in Shana's behavior regarding her duties as a Flame Haze. She reveals her mission of eliminating the Mystes, Yūji Sakai , in order to transfer the Midnight Lost Child to another vessel.

When Wilhelmina attempts to destroy Yūji, Shana intervenes, eventually convincing her to stop. Afterwards, Yūji questions Shana on what she intends for the both of them.

Shana protecting Yūji

During the burning of the bird ornaments, the Palace of the Stars descends from the sky as Bal Masqué arrive to take Yūji away. Wilhelmina attempts to kill him before he falls into their hands, but Shana defends Yūji from her attack. After Bal Masque successfully obtain the Mystes, Wilhelmina takes Shana back to a nearby building to treat her wound. Soon, she regains her consciousness and prepares to infiltrate the Palace of the Stars.

Sato and Eita ask Shana to save Yūji for their sake, rather than for the duty of a Flame Haze. Kazumi admits to Shana that she is the only one who can bring him back, and places her faith in Shana. Along with Wilhelmina, the two ascend to the Palace of the Stars.

Upon infiltration of the Palace of the Stars, Shana and Wilhelmina are soon confronted by robotic Rinne, created by the Seeker. An Unrestricted Method is set in place to prevent Shana and Wilhelmina from using their power of existence (in Shana's case, Nietono no Shana is rendered too heavy for use), forcing them to resort to their physical abilities. Eventually, Margery Daw shows up and assists the two by destroying the machine fueling the Unrestricted Method. Shana and Wilhelmina make quick work of the Rinne afterwards. When Bel Peol arrives to confront them, Wilhelmina questions Shana's final decision on what to do with Yūji. She answers that she will not destroy Yūji, yet still prevent Bal Masqué from succeeding in their plan. Satisfied with her resolve, Wilhelmina tells Shana to proceed ahead of her while she holds off Bel Peol. Shana moves onwards to where Yūji is being held.

As they close in on Yūji's location, Shana reveals to Alastor the feelings she harbors towards Yūji. They soon reach the room where Yūji is being held, along with Supreme Throne Hecate. Soon after, Shana engages Hecate. Due to the immense level of power of existence, her attacks prove ineffective.

Shana and Yūji returned to their normal life as students after the events at Seireiden. Then, Yūji notices that Shana is acting strange only to find out he is in a dream created by the Slumber Maniac, Mare. After he wakes up, he sees Shana fighting Mare, in the appearance of a teenage girl. Shana called him idiot for not concentrating on to the battle. Then, she easily defeated the Tomogara.

However, Shana, Yūji and Kazumi are trapped once again in a dream. The true appearance of Mare is then revealed and the body she used earlier was a Mystes. Shana fights Mare and Yūji does his best to wake up Kazumi.

Shana wrote a letter for Yūji, telling him her feelings and to choose between her and Kazumi by meeting one of them on Christmas Eve. Yūji chooses Shana but suddenly disappears after Shana sees him. Shana is worried and goes to Kazumi, informing her of the disappearance of Yūji. After that, they go to Yūji's room and they see that all things related to Yūji have disappeared. Kazumi thinks that Yūji is dead but Shana tells her that Yūji is not dead because the letters they had given him had not disappeared.

The sudden disappearance of Yūji and all traces of his existence left Shana heartbroken, although she manages to gather herself and investigate the extent of Yūji's disappearance. Using Yūji's last memento, the letter that he returned to her and Kazumi, she undergoes training with Margery to hone her spellcasting abilities.

Shana defeated by Yūji

Upon Yūji's return to Misaki City as Bal Masqué's newest leader, Shana is defeated by him before she is taken to the Seireiden. Her powers are then sealed by Bel Peol's Treasure Tool Tartaros, while Alastor stays in Yūji's hands to get to know his intentions.

After that, she manages to destroy the chain and regains her powers and her weapon, while Alastor has decided to stay near Yūji in order to understand his true intentions. During the escape, Shana wishes for and obtains new powers to fight with more potential (even managing to defeat a Crimson Lord in only one strike).

Yūji takes Shana to the Seireiden, where she is confined to a single room and tended to by a couple of maid Rinne. She can't use her powers because of a miniature version of Bel Peol's Tartaros. The Nietono no Shana had also been taken. Shana was about to be killed by Hecate, but was saved by Yūji. She is later seen wearing a frilly dress. Due to the chaos caused by Khamsin and Rebecca infiltrating Seireiden, Shana is able to escape the maid Rinne. She calls out for the Nietono no Shana, awakening Tenmoku Ikko, who returns it to her. Shana regains her powers and meets the Crimson DenizenUvall. She is able to kill him by using her new Unrestricted Spells, Hien, Shinku, Shinpan and Danzai. She escapes and meets Khamsin, Rebecca, and Wilhelmina outside.

As the Denizens leave to Xanadu, Sakai Yūji parted with Snake of the Festival. The Strategist, holding the essence of the God of Creation, gave him a chain-shape key to Tartaros. At the end, the God of Creation stated he grew fond of Sakai Yūji, a mere torch that was willing to allow himself to be used as a tool to fulfill his plan, and even if nobody else approved of his plan, the God of Creation approved it and gives his blessings to Sakai Yūji, as they departed to Xanadu.

Later the Spiral Organ appeared, gave Yūji a crystal containing Unrestricted Spell for bringing back the lost things, grant basic protection for his body and embedding a new Unrestricted Spell into the anti-flame ring Azure, saying it's been wonderful working with Sakai Yūji. Later, Lamies left a last parting gift, naming Yūji's new Unrestricted Spell, Grammatica and ask him to contemplate on the meaning of it.

Now, fully himself, he decided to face Shana and Margery Daw in the final battle, and Sydonay impressed by the boy's action decided to ally with him and fights Margery Daw. During the battle Sakai Yūji activated the green crystal and cast it on Yoshida Kazumi, with the last plea for her to agree. The spell activates and it restored all the destruction caused at Misaki City and healed damaged people although he regretted that dead people cannot be revived.

Shana going to punch Yūji.

Shana asked Sakai Yūji what is his intention and he replied that in order to atone the killing of Flame Haze and Humans on his quest, he will travel to Xanadu that has no Misaki City alone to teach Denizens and humans to coexist peacefully, even if it takes thousands of years so that he can finally be together with Shana without guilt.

As they embraced and kissed, the Spiral Organ Unrestricted Spell activated and Sakai Yūji becomes a "solid existence", as prophesied by God of Punishment - something more than a normal torch or a Mystes. As Yūji Sakai and Shana delights at this revelation, they departed to Xanadu.

At Xanadu Shana and Yūji are always together and they try to teach the Tomogoras and Humans to coexist and even fight against rebel Tomogoras. It is known that Yuuji is still being and that there are still some that are trying to kill him. Last scene Yūji and Shana after deafing some rebels Tomogoras, Shana and Alastor tell Yūji they were impressive because of how he changed and they both left the place holding hands.

Despite being the title character of the anime, Shana has few character relations with many of the characters in the show. That would be because of the manner she was raised. Wilhelmina, Shiro and Alastor mostly focused on her physical and mental being, forgetting that being as socially adapt is as important. This was, as Alastor said, one of their mistakes, since they thought that they would just teach her these feelings when she grows up a little more, not realizing that these feelings should be developed, and could not be taught so hastily. (Although, Shiro did teach her indirectly that love is the most powerful unrestricted spell of all.)

Her main social interest is Yūji, whom she sees as her love interest. Her relationship with Yūji is one of the driving forces of the series.

Her relationship with Yūji at first is strained, as she sees him only as a Torch (later as a Mystes) and she views herself as a mere Flame Haze as well. Shana gets further irritated at Yūji's positive view in life, despite knowing that he would someday disappear, which Shana finds it unusual. Later on, when Yūji was desperate to be a means of help for Shana, he manages to strategize at situations difficult for her, and Shana finds herself, surprisingly, following his instructions by instinct.

As the series progresses, so does their relationship. Shana begins to seek Yūji out as a source of her strength, being able to think that she can do anything with him by her side. She begins to open up with other characters with his influence, something Alastor and Wilhelmina said was strange for her. Finally, she realizes that she loves Yūji with the unexpected help of Yoshida Kazumi who was determined to confess to Yūji.

Unfortunately, her tendency to get possessive and jealous, due to having little knowledge on the new emotions she was feeling and Yūji being clueless, drove Yūji to belittle himself (which ironically that is what Shana wanted him to feel at the beginning). He began to avoid Shana, pertaining himself as a 'mere Mystes'. However, their relationship was renewed when Shana sacrificed herself when Wilhelmina was about to kill Yūji and Yūji was able to get through Shana once more.

She manages to tell Yūji her feelings indirectly with the means of a letter, only to have him disappear on Christmas Eve. Later, they found out that Yūji merged with the God of Creation and is the new leader of Bal Masqué, the Flame Haze's mortal enemy. This was because as Yūji had chosen her over Kazumi, he wanted to make her future a better one, where he could stay by her side, without her fighting Denizens forever and eventually perishing.

Shana, who sees Yūji's actions as something wrong, decides to fight him, only to be defeated by him. While in captivity, she fears Yūji, and refuses to be touched or held by him, a fact that Yūji cannot understand nor comprehend. Later in the series while fighting Yūji, she finally tells Yūji that she loves him.

Shana takes orders and advice from the Crimson Lord she is bound to. She has a great deal of respect for Alastor, seeing as he is known by many prestigious titles, and she has confessed her daughterly (not biological) love for this Crimson Lord.

She was Shana's mentor and guardian during Shana' days at the Heaven's Road Palace. She also serves somewhat as a mother figure to her, trying to make dinner when Shana feels upset and embracing her with obvious relief when Shana survived the Tenpa Jōsai, as well as frequently buying her melon bread.

Kazumi Yoshida is her love-rival for Yūji, and Shana treats her with contempt and disdain. Shana eventually starts to be more open to the other characters, especially in regards to her relationship with Kazumi becoming more friendly. However, Shana is constantly reminding herself of her contempt for Yoshida, seeing as she is the main perpatrator in her plot to get Yūji.

She generally treats most other characters with ignorance and indifference with the exception of Chigusa Sakai, who she looks to as a source in answering certain difficulties when Alastor or Wilhelmina are unable to do so.

Shana is a powerful and talented Flame Haze, and is said to be the most powerful, known and feared by most Crimson Denizens with her title alone. This has allowed her to defeat many powerful Denizens, and permits her many different abilities, including her proficiency with the Nietono no Shana, the ability to wield flames, manipulate the Power of Existence, harbor extrasensory traits, and fly with wings of flame. In the third volume of the manga, the first volume of the novel, and the movie, Alastor states that the reason why she did not explode after being shot by Friagne's Trigger Happy was because she held a capacity that existed in dimensional space, who was able to contain the Flame of Heaven's (and more); He has thus stated her as "The Great One".

However, she demonstrates a clear lack of experience in battle, as noted by Sophie Sawallisch, who has witnessed her fighting style first-hand.[3] This is once held responsible for her defeat against a Flame Haze, Margery Daw, who is a specialist in Power of Unrestraint.

Wings of Crimson (紅蓮の双翼,Guren no Souyoku?): A pair of fiery wings appear on her back, allowing flight. At first, Shana is not able to use this spell without Yūji in range. Later on, she manages to use Guren no Souyoku when she fought in later battles even against Yūji. These wings were fast enough to evade Hecate's powerful Aster spell.

Great Blade of Crimson (紅蓮の大太刀,Guren no Oodachi?): It coats Shana's sword with a flame which she can use to hurl at enemies from a distance, whether as a wave of fire or fireballs. She is also capable of creating fiery constructs to do her bidding. Additionally, she has learned to summon the spirit of Tenmoku Ikko, the entity that resides within Nietono no Shana when she was held as a captive in Seireiden.

Shinku (真紅,Crimson?): A unique Unrestricted Spell that forms a shape of a hand with flame. Its primary purpose seems to be to push back, and even defeat enemies.

Shinpan (審判?, Judgement): A unique Unrestricted Spell that can be used to remotely observe areas from far away, broadcast speech over a wide area, determine the purpose of Unrestricted Spells, and sense Power of Existence in a large area.

Danzai (断罪?, Condemnation): A unique Unrestricted Spell. Its primary purpose seems to be the destruction of obstacles, such as reinforced doors, structures, and destroying the enemy directly. Its continuous stream of flame is powerful enough to break through the flame shield provided by the Azure.

The name "Shana", which was given by Yūji to the Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter (from her main weapon, Nietono no Shana) actually refers to the buddha Vairocana. Coincidentally, Shana, or "שנה", also means "Year" in Hebrew and is a common variant of the Hebrew name "שושנה", or "Shoshana", meaning Lily or Rose.

Her title, "Flamed-Haired Burning-Eyed" (炎髪灼眼,Enpatsu Shakugan?), is a play on the term "Blonde-Haired, Blue-Eyed" (金髪碧眼,Kinpatsu Hekigan?), which described foreigners appeared in many anime and manga characters.

Hishoku no Sora is again played in the sixth episode, with official art of Shana seen in Comiket.

English voice actress Tabitha St. Germain, who voiced Shana also voiced Flay Allster from Gundam Seed. Shana and Kazumi Yoshida's English voice actresses, Tabitha St. Germain and Chantal Strand, play a similar love triangle relationship role with Flay Allster and Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed.